Items related to The Essex Serpent
London 1893: When Cora Seaborne and her son Francis reach Essex, rumours spread from further up the estuary that the mythical Essex Serpent, once said to roam the marshes claiming lives, has returned to the coastal parish of Aldwinter. Cora, a keen amateur naturalist is enthralled, convinced that it may be a previously undiscovered species. As she sets out on its trail she meets William Ransome, Aldwinter's vicar. They find themselves inexorably drawn together and torn apart, eventually changing each other's lives in ways entirely unexpected.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
A blissful novel of unapologetic appetites, where desire and faith mingle on the marshes, but friendship is the miracle. Sarah Perry has the rare gift of committing the uncommittable to prose -- that is to say: here is a writer who understands life. --Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist"
At once numinous, intimate and wise, The Essex Serpent is a marvellous novel about the workings of life, love and belief, about science and religion, secrets, mysteries, and the complicated and unexpected shifts of the human heart It is so good its pages seem lit from within. --Helen MacDonald, author of H is for Hawk"
For originality, richness of prose and depth of characterization is unlikely to be bettered this year ... one of the most memorable historical novels of the past decade. --Sunday Times (London)"
Confident, intelligent and original storytelling -- I was seduced by the many charms of The Essex Serpent. --Laline Paull, author of The Bees"
A work of great intelligence and charm, by a hugely talented author. --Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith"
Had Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker come together to write the great Victorian novel, I wonder if it would have surpassed The Essex Serpent? Sarah Perry establishes herself as one of the finest fiction writers working in Britain today. --John Burnside"
A suspenseful love story The Essex Serpent recalls variously the earthiness of Emily Bronte, the arch, high-tensile tone of Conan Doyle, the evocation of time and place achieved by Hilary Mantel and Sarah Waters and the antiquarian edgelands horror of M. R. James. --New Statesman"
A thing of beauty inside and out A stunning achievement, one for which I predict prize nominations galore, from the Wellcome to the Man Booker. --The Independent (UK)"
Irresistible... you can feel the influences of Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Hilary Mantel channeled by Perry in some sort of Victorian s?ance. This is the best new novel I ve read in years. --Daily Telegraph (London)"
An exquisitely absorbing, old-fashioned page-turner The Essex Serpent is shot through with such a vivid, lively sense of the period that it reads like Charles Dickens at his most accessible and fans of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell will also find much to love. --Daily Express (UK)"
Perry fully inhabits many of the concerns and stylistic elements of the 19th century novel -- but its interests are still contemporary ones: desire, fulfillment and questioning the world Her language is exquisite, her characterization finely tuned [I]t s clear that Perry is a gifted writer of immense ability. --Irish Times"
[T]he most deeply satisfying fiction you will read this year. --Waterstone's Book of the Year shortlist selection"
"A suspenseful love story... The Essex Serpent recalls variously the earthiness of Emily Bronte, the arch, high-tensile tone of Conan Doyle, the evocation of time and place achieved by Hilary Mantel and Sarah Waters and the antiquarian edgelands horror of M. R. James."--New Statesman
"A thing of beauty inside and out...A stunning achievement, one for which I predict prize nominations galore, from the Wellcome to the Man Booker."--The Independent (UK)
"At once numinous, intimate and wise, The Essex Serpent is a marvellous novel about the workings of life, love and belief, about science and religion, secrets, mysteries, and the complicated and unexpected shifts of the human heart...It is so good its pages seem lit from within."--Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
"With a deft hand, Perry takes us into class struggles, politics, women's issues, and the profound anxieties that marked these times. At once love story and mystery...The Essex Serpent reveals the mundane beast that spawned wild rumors, and the stranger, less easily unmasked beasts within us."--Historical Novels Review
"The sumptuous twists and turns of Perry's prose invite close reading, as deep and strange and full of narrative magic as the Blackwater itself. Stuffed with smarts and storytelling sorcery, this is a work of astonishing breadth and brilliance."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"The vivid, often frightening imagery... and the lush descriptions... create a magical background for the sensual love story between Sarah and Will. Book-discussion groups will have a field day with the imagery, the well-developed characters, and the concepts of innocence, evil, and guilt."--Booklist (starred review)
"In Perry's excellent second novel... a fatal illness, a knife-wielding maniac, and a fated union with the Essex Serpent will dictate the ultimate happiness of [the] characters. Like John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman... this is another period literary pastiche with a contemporary overlay."--Publishers Weekly
"A work of great intelligence and charm, by a hugely talented author."--Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith
"Dickensian in scope, depth, and exquisite use of language ... At once love story and mystery, deeply penetrating layered characters with wit and grace, The Essex Serpent reveals the mundane beast that spawned wild rumors, and the stranger, less easily unmasked beasts within us."--Historical Novels Review
"At once numinous, intimate and wise, The Essex Serpent is a marvellous novel about the workings of life, love and belief, about science and religion, secrets, mysteries, and the complicated and unexpected shifts of the human heart...It is so good its pages seem lit from within."--Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
"Everything they're saying is true: sumptuous, beautiful, powerful, engrossing, brilliant."--Nina Stibbe
"[T]he most deeply satisfying fiction you will read this year."--Waterstones Book of the Year
"A blissful novel of unapologetic appetites, where desire and faith mingle on the marshes, but friendship is the miracle. Sarah Perry has the rare gift of committing the uncommittable to prose -- that is to say: here is a writer who understands life."--Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist
"A big, warm, generous novel that wears its considerable wisdom lightly, The Essex Serpent is an absolute pleasure from start to finish--I truly didn't want it to end."--Melissa Harrison, author of At Hawthorn Time
"For originality, richness of prose and depth of characterization is unlikely to be bettered this year ... one of the most memorable historical novels of the past decade."--Sunday Times
"Confident, intelligent and original storytelling -- I was seduced by the many charms of The Essex Serpent."--Laline Paull, author of The Bees
"Had Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker come together to write the great Victorian novel, I wonder if it would have surpassed The Essex Serpent? Sarah Perry establishes herself as one of the finest fiction writers working in Britain today."--John Burnside
"A suspenseful love story... The Essex Serpent recalls variously the earthiness of Emily Bronte, the arch, high-tensile tone of Conan Doyle, the evocation of time and place achieved by Hilary Mantel and Sarah Waters and the antiquarian edgelands horror of M. R. James."--New Statesman
"Perry's achieved the near impossible...A thing of beauty inside and out... a stunning achievement."--The Independent
"Irresistible... you can feel the influences of Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Hilary Mantel channeled by Perry in some sort of Victorian seance. This is the best new novel I've read in years."--Daily Telegraph
"An exquisitely absorbing, old-fashioned page-turner...The Essex Serpent is shot through with such a vivid, lively sense of the period that it reads like Charles Dickens at his most accessible and fans of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell will also find much to love."--Daily Express
"Perry fully inhabits many of the concerns and stylistic elements of the 19th century novel -- but its interests are still contemporary ones: desire, fulfillment and questioning the world... Her language is exquisite, her characterization finely tuned... [I]t's clear that Perry is a gifted writer of immense ability."--Irish Times
"A Victorian-era gothic with a Dickensian focus on societal ills, Perry's second novel surprises in its wonderful freshness . . . [her] singular characters are drawn with a fondness that is both palpable and contagious, all making for pure pleasure."--The Observer
"Sarah Perry's novel of 19th century England tackles big ideas...reversals and sharp darts of psychological insight combined with a sense of the substance and feeling of late 19th-century ideas in bloom make this a fine novel, both historical and otherwise."--Newsday
"A novel of almost insolent ambition--lush and fantastical, a wild Eden behind a garden gate...it's part ghost story and part natural history lesson, part romance and part feminist parable. I found it so transporting that 48 hours after completing it, I was still resentful to be back home."--New York Times
"An irresistible new novel...the most delightful heroine since Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice...By the end, The Essex Serpent identifies a mystery far greater than some creature 'from the illuminated margins of a manuscript' friendship."--Washington Post
"Richly enjoyable... Ms. Perry writes beautifully and sometimes agreeably sharply... The Essex Serpent is a wonderfully satisfying novel. Ford Madox Ford thought the glory of the novel was its ability to make the reader think and feel at the same time. This one does just that."--Wall Street Journal
"Gloriously alive"--NPR
"A fabulous summer read...If Middlemarch heroine Dorothea Brooke had heard of dinosaurs, she might have gone tromping through the salt marshes with Cora Seaborne."--Christian Science Monitor
"Compulsive...narrative and voice coil together until it is very difficult to stop reading."--The Guardian
"Irresistible"--People (Book of the Week)
"Astonishing...Perry's prose is rich, textured, and intricate...a thoughtful and elegant book about the human need for knowledge and love, and about the fears and desires we bury."--Vox
"Triumphs on every level, whether in its rich, evocative prose or its authentic Victorian detail, its credible, multifaceted characters or its high-stakes drama...Perry likened writing her novel to a 'possession.' Reading it, we find ourselves under a similar mesmerizing spell."--Minneapolis Star Tribune
"The Essex Serpent is Sarah Perry's first book to come across the pond to us from Great Britain, and it is a corker...Even the most minor characters are filled with a particular life, light and love...one of the best, most memorable novels I have read in long years."--Daily Herald
"As engrossing as its reputation would suggest...Perry's command of language as a tool to evoke time and place proves remarkable."--Paste Magazine
"Perry's second novel is a dazzling and intellectually nimble work of Gothic fiction."--San Francisco Gate
Book Description:
At once numinous, intimate and wise, The Essex Serpent is a marvellous novel about the workings of life, love and belief, about science and religion, secrets, mysteries, and the complicated and unexpected shifts of the human heart It is so good its pages seem lit from within. --Helen MacDonald, author of H is for Hawk"
For originality, richness of prose and depth of characterization is unlikely to be bettered this year ... one of the most memorable historical novels of the past decade. --Sunday Times (London)"
Confident, intelligent and original storytelling -- I was seduced by the many charms of The Essex Serpent. --Laline Paull, author of The Bees"
A work of great intelligence and charm, by a hugely talented author. --Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith"
Had Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker come together to write the great Victorian novel, I wonder if it would have surpassed The Essex Serpent? Sarah Perry establishes herself as one of the finest fiction writers working in Britain today. --John Burnside"
A suspenseful love story The Essex Serpent recalls variously the earthiness of Emily Bronte, the arch, high-tensile tone of Conan Doyle, the evocation of time and place achieved by Hilary Mantel and Sarah Waters and the antiquarian edgelands horror of M. R. James. --New Statesman"
A thing of beauty inside and out A stunning achievement, one for which I predict prize nominations galore, from the Wellcome to the Man Booker. --The Independent (UK)"
Irresistible... you can feel the influences of Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Hilary Mantel channeled by Perry in some sort of Victorian s?ance. This is the best new novel I ve read in years. --Daily Telegraph (London)"
An exquisitely absorbing, old-fashioned page-turner The Essex Serpent is shot through with such a vivid, lively sense of the period that it reads like Charles Dickens at his most accessible and fans of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell will also find much to love. --Daily Express (UK)"
Perry fully inhabits many of the concerns and stylistic elements of the 19th century novel -- but its interests are still contemporary ones: desire, fulfillment and questioning the world Her language is exquisite, her characterization finely tuned [I]t s clear that Perry is a gifted writer of immense ability. --Irish Times"
[T]he most deeply satisfying fiction you will read this year. --Waterstone's Book of the Year shortlist selection"
"A suspenseful love story... The Essex Serpent recalls variously the earthiness of Emily Bronte, the arch, high-tensile tone of Conan Doyle, the evocation of time and place achieved by Hilary Mantel and Sarah Waters and the antiquarian edgelands horror of M. R. James."--New Statesman
"A thing of beauty inside and out...A stunning achievement, one for which I predict prize nominations galore, from the Wellcome to the Man Booker."--The Independent (UK)
"At once numinous, intimate and wise, The Essex Serpent is a marvellous novel about the workings of life, love and belief, about science and religion, secrets, mysteries, and the complicated and unexpected shifts of the human heart...It is so good its pages seem lit from within."--Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
"With a deft hand, Perry takes us into class struggles, politics, women's issues, and the profound anxieties that marked these times. At once love story and mystery...The Essex Serpent reveals the mundane beast that spawned wild rumors, and the stranger, less easily unmasked beasts within us."--Historical Novels Review
"The sumptuous twists and turns of Perry's prose invite close reading, as deep and strange and full of narrative magic as the Blackwater itself. Stuffed with smarts and storytelling sorcery, this is a work of astonishing breadth and brilliance."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"The vivid, often frightening imagery... and the lush descriptions... create a magical background for the sensual love story between Sarah and Will. Book-discussion groups will have a field day with the imagery, the well-developed characters, and the concepts of innocence, evil, and guilt."--Booklist (starred review)
"In Perry's excellent second novel... a fatal illness, a knife-wielding maniac, and a fated union with the Essex Serpent will dictate the ultimate happiness of [the] characters. Like John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman... this is another period literary pastiche with a contemporary overlay."--Publishers Weekly
"A work of great intelligence and charm, by a hugely talented author."--Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith
"Dickensian in scope, depth, and exquisite use of language ... At once love story and mystery, deeply penetrating layered characters with wit and grace, The Essex Serpent reveals the mundane beast that spawned wild rumors, and the stranger, less easily unmasked beasts within us."--Historical Novels Review
"At once numinous, intimate and wise, The Essex Serpent is a marvellous novel about the workings of life, love and belief, about science and religion, secrets, mysteries, and the complicated and unexpected shifts of the human heart...It is so good its pages seem lit from within."--Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
"Everything they're saying is true: sumptuous, beautiful, powerful, engrossing, brilliant."--Nina Stibbe
"[T]he most deeply satisfying fiction you will read this year."--Waterstones Book of the Year
"A blissful novel of unapologetic appetites, where desire and faith mingle on the marshes, but friendship is the miracle. Sarah Perry has the rare gift of committing the uncommittable to prose -- that is to say: here is a writer who understands life."--Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist
"A big, warm, generous novel that wears its considerable wisdom lightly, The Essex Serpent is an absolute pleasure from start to finish--I truly didn't want it to end."--Melissa Harrison, author of At Hawthorn Time
"For originality, richness of prose and depth of characterization is unlikely to be bettered this year ... one of the most memorable historical novels of the past decade."--Sunday Times
"Confident, intelligent and original storytelling -- I was seduced by the many charms of The Essex Serpent."--Laline Paull, author of The Bees
"Had Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker come together to write the great Victorian novel, I wonder if it would have surpassed The Essex Serpent? Sarah Perry establishes herself as one of the finest fiction writers working in Britain today."--John Burnside
"A suspenseful love story... The Essex Serpent recalls variously the earthiness of Emily Bronte, the arch, high-tensile tone of Conan Doyle, the evocation of time and place achieved by Hilary Mantel and Sarah Waters and the antiquarian edgelands horror of M. R. James."--New Statesman
"Perry's achieved the near impossible...A thing of beauty inside and out... a stunning achievement."--The Independent
"Irresistible... you can feel the influences of Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Hilary Mantel channeled by Perry in some sort of Victorian seance. This is the best new novel I've read in years."--Daily Telegraph
"An exquisitely absorbing, old-fashioned page-turner...The Essex Serpent is shot through with such a vivid, lively sense of the period that it reads like Charles Dickens at his most accessible and fans of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell will also find much to love."--Daily Express
"Perry fully inhabits many of the concerns and stylistic elements of the 19th century novel -- but its interests are still contemporary ones: desire, fulfillment and questioning the world... Her language is exquisite, her characterization finely tuned... [I]t's clear that Perry is a gifted writer of immense ability."--Irish Times
"A Victorian-era gothic with a Dickensian focus on societal ills, Perry's second novel surprises in its wonderful freshness . . . [her] singular characters are drawn with a fondness that is both palpable and contagious, all making for pure pleasure."--The Observer
"Sarah Perry's novel of 19th century England tackles big ideas...reversals and sharp darts of psychological insight combined with a sense of the substance and feeling of late 19th-century ideas in bloom make this a fine novel, both historical and otherwise."--Newsday
"A novel of almost insolent ambition--lush and fantastical, a wild Eden behind a garden gate...it's part ghost story and part natural history lesson, part romance and part feminist parable. I found it so transporting that 48 hours after completing it, I was still resentful to be back home."--New York Times
"An irresistible new novel...the most delightful heroine since Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice...By the end, The Essex Serpent identifies a mystery far greater than some creature 'from the illuminated margins of a manuscript' friendship."--Washington Post
"Richly enjoyable... Ms. Perry writes beautifully and sometimes agreeably sharply... The Essex Serpent is a wonderfully satisfying novel. Ford Madox Ford thought the glory of the novel was its ability to make the reader think and feel at the same time. This one does just that."--Wall Street Journal
"Gloriously alive"--NPR
"A fabulous summer read...If Middlemarch heroine Dorothea Brooke had heard of dinosaurs, she might have gone tromping through the salt marshes with Cora Seaborne."--Christian Science Monitor
"Compulsive...narrative and voice coil together until it is very difficult to stop reading."--The Guardian
"Irresistible"--People (Book of the Week)
"Astonishing...Perry's prose is rich, textured, and intricate...a thoughtful and elegant book about the human need for knowledge and love, and about the fears and desires we bury."--Vox
"Triumphs on every level, whether in its rich, evocative prose or its authentic Victorian detail, its credible, multifaceted characters or its high-stakes drama...Perry likened writing her novel to a 'possession.' Reading it, we find ourselves under a similar mesmerizing spell."--Minneapolis Star Tribune
"The Essex Serpent is Sarah Perry's first book to come across the pond to us from Great Britain, and it is a corker...Even the most minor characters are filled with a particular life, light and love...one of the best, most memorable novels I have read in long years."--Daily Herald
"As engrossing as its reputation would suggest...Perry's command of language as a tool to evoke time and place proves remarkable."--Paste Magazine
"Perry's second novel is a dazzling and intellectually nimble work of Gothic fiction."--San Francisco Gate
The literary sensation and Waterstones Book of the Year: a thrilling and unforgettable historical novel of love and intrigue now out in paperback
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherWhole Story Audiobooks
- Publication date2016
- ISBN 10 1510045929
- ISBN 13 9781510045927
- BindingAudio CD
- Number of pages12
- Rating
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Seller Image
The Essex Serpent
Published by
Whole Story Audiobooks
(2016)
ISBN 10: 1510045929
ISBN 13: 9781510045927
Used
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. Seller Inventory # wbs7514855683
Buy Used
£ 12.02
Convert currency